NUFC Transfer Rumours

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, Whitley mag said:

No but they’re process driven and it’s not suited to the fast moving world of football. Selling a purple like Isak was meant to herald the next stage of the rebuild if it had to happen. 

 

Unfortunately, they move at a snails pace and we should have had a DOF in place to oversee everything. I’m not sure what top 5 club would have allowed the Howe’s a free rein to spend 200 million.

 

It looked like a scattergun approach at the time and so it’s proven.

 

The process driven thing is a load of rubbish imo. It’s the excuse given for them taking an age to do anything.

[Whitley mag]

7 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

The process driven thing is a load of rubbish imo. It’s the excuse given for them taking an age to do anything.

I think in an organisation like PIF getting authorisation to spend will be multi layered and it’s the one thing Hopkinson needs to gain more autonomy over.

 

 

Edited January 25 by Whitley mag

[KennyUtd]

1 hour ago, andyc35i said:

I’d rather we spent £90m on wages and a transfer fee for Cunha or Mbuemo

2 players that weren't interested signing for us at all. Okay then. 

[Yorkie]

God knows what we were thinking signing three players with 125 PL goals/assists between them. A truly wacky recruitment strategy.

[SUPERTOON]

1 minute ago, Yorkie said:

God knows what we were thinking signing three players with 125 PL goals/assists between them. A truly wacky recruitment strategy.

You don’t see any issue spending the amount we did on them three ? 

[TheBrownBottle]

18 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

I think in an organisation like PIF getting authorisation to spend will be multi layered and it’s the one thing Hopkinson needs to gain more autonomy over.

 

 

 

An organisation like PIF will have only one or two people who need to sign off - it’s incompetence not checks and balances on show.  Organisations which rely on well-made business cases don’t waste the money they do on vanity projects.  

[Yorkie]

1 minute ago, SUPERTOON said:

You don’t see any issue spending the amount we did on them three ? 

 

We probably spent beyond their realistic market value but if they produce the numbers they did for their previous club then we don't give a single fuck.

[TheBrownBottle]

5 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

God knows what we were thinking signing three players with 125 PL goals/assists between them. A truly wacky recruitment strategy.

It’s almost as if you actually need to look at a player before signing them  

[SUPERTOON]

Just now, Yorkie said:

 

We probably spent beyond their realistic market value but if they produce the numbers they did for their previous club then we don't give a single fuck.

My issue with them, or rather us signing them, is we seem to not play to any of their strengths. If anything, we have moved further away from the style they are suited to.

[Wolfcastle]

Dont know if Elanga, Wissa, Ramsey's previous form being reimagined here would have done us too much good beyond fleshing out the squad.  

[Sibierski]

Bit of a false position to assume you sign someone from a side that plays a different way and expect same output. Like Liverpool expecting Isak to score 20+ when we all said he would need someone like Murphy to supply him to get that.

[Yorkie]

24 minutes ago, Wolfcastle said:

Dont know if Elanga, Wissa, Ramsey's previous form being reimagined here would have done us too much good beyond fleshing out the squad.  

 

Wissa scored 19 goals and got five assists last season, Elanga six and 11; that's hardly chump change. 

 

The recruitment hasn't worked out so far, I can't deny that. I will just always recoil at the inference/accusation that we were off our rocker targeting these players. 

 

The one player who suits us the least, imo, is the one who - until now - has received the most grace, that obviously being Woltemade. So far he is proof of the massive gamble you take by investing in strikers from the continent. But we were really running out of options by the time we turned to him so I've no beef with us taking a calculated risk in that scenario. It was absolutely crucial we augmented that signing by recruiting a surer thing, and it was frankly a miracle we had any PL striker (let alone a prolific one) gagging to sign for us after the Isak saga. Sods law Wissa got injured before he'd even so much as trained with us.

 

I guess I just wish there was a bit more understanding of the context and a bit less knives out when it comes to the summer. I will keep dying on the hill that we were totally shanked, primarily by PSR but also Isak (which was essentially also a PSR symptom).

[wong989]

1 hour ago, SUPERTOON said:

My issue with them, or rather us signing them, is we seem to not play to any of their strengths. If anything, we have moved further away from the style they are suited to.

Exactly the problem.  How is it, that there seems to a be a reticence to sign a player from a different league, but none for players who have either failed or not experienced playing our style. A player in a foreign league with the attributes to succeed and some potential to improve amongst better players and coaches is a better bet one would imagine. Its worked countless times before. Just like teams signing big name players who then flopped because they weren't used to their strengths has happened hundreds of times. 

[wong989]

1 hour ago, Yorkie said:

 

Wissa scored 19 goals and got five assists last season, Elanga six and 11; that's hardly chump change. 

 

The recruitment hasn't worked out so far, I can't deny that. I will just always recoil at the inference/accusation that we were off our rocker targeting these players. 

 

The one player who suits us the least, imo, is the one who - until now - has received the most grace, that obviously being Woltemade. So far he is proof of the massive gamble you take by investing in strikers from the continent. But we were really running out of options by the time we turned to him so I've no beef with us taking a calculated risk in that scenario. It was absolutely crucial we augmented that signing by recruiting a surer thing, and it was frankly a miracle we had any PL striker (let alone a prolific one) gagging to sign for us after the Isak saga. Sods law Wissa got injured before he'd even so much as trained with us.

 

I guess I just wish there was a bit more understanding of the context and a bit less knives out when it comes to the summer. I will keep dying on the hill that we were totally shanked, primarily by PSR but also Isak (which was essentially also a PSR symptom).

My concern here is the constant talk of 'a small pool of players'. We should have had a list of strikers for a few years, Wilson had been breaking down more and more. We tried so hard to sign Guehi for near 70 million, we now have Thiaw for 35. In that time, was there no young player in any (all) of our positions which needed strengthening, in depth at least. This summer there will be numerous players who'd strengthen our squad and likely our 11 who were bought for 5-15 million when we had 65 million we were willing to spend on a good, not great center back, just because he was 'prem proven'. 

[Lotus]

We wouldn’t play Buendia if he was on the squad, complete waste of time talking about it.

We’re at our best when we’re forcing the opposition into errors. You don’t need creative players for that, you need stamina monsters with a chip on their shoulder. 

[r0cafella]

If we are done for business this window it's a bit of red flag for Eddie's future like. We should be ok PSR wise to bring someone in. 

[toontownman]

1 minute ago, r0cafella said:

If we are done for business this window it's a bit of red flag for Eddie's future like. We should be ok PSR wise to bring someone in. 

Absolutely a big potential clean the decks for a new manager to come in if PIF want.

 

- Quite a few out the door with contracts up.

- Probably case in on at least one or two of Tino/Gordon/Bruno/Tonali going for big money whether we like it or not. 

- Fringe players like Willock/Osula maybe even Murphy could be shifted.

 

Transfer pot would be potentially large.

 

All that and no first team additions aside, I cant understand why we haven't been buying more youth players for the reserves that can give us more depth over time. 

 

 

[huss9]

2 minutes ago, toontownman said:

Absolutely a big potential clean the decks for a new manager to come in if PIF want.

 

- Quite a few out the door with contracts up.

- Probably case in on at least one or two of Tino/Gordon/Bruno/Tonali going for big money whether we like it or not. 

- Fringe players like Willock/Osula maybe even Murphy could be shifted.

 

Transfer pot would be potentially large.

 

All that and no first team additions aside, I cant understand why we haven't been buying more youth players for the reserves that can give us more depth over time. 

 

 

we have but they havent seemed to have progressed.

that man city kid alfie harrison came with a decent reputation but hasnt really lived up to the hype.

 

the Korean kid looked decent preseason, though.

[toontownman]

3 hours ago, huss9 said:

we have but they havent seemed to have progressed.

that man city kid alfie harrison came with a decent reputation but hasnt really lived up to the hype.

 

the Korean kid looked decent preseason, though.

Aye I would have thought 3-5 a season and loaning them out, selling on or hoping they fill the underbelly of the squad.

 

We have done well at the earlier age level. Guess thats the long term bet. I was just expecting more that would have helped out squad depth. There is a big time/age gap so far. 

[Yorkie]

8 hours ago, r0cafella said:

If we are done for business this window it's a bit of red flag for Eddie's future like. We should be ok PSR wise to bring someone in. 

 

Don't buy that, personally (of course I wouldn't). By that logic you'd be extending the red flag to Wilson as well; it's not just Howe making recruitment decisions now. 

 

It's just PSR. Yeah we can buy now but we can maximise our resources by waiting until the summer to spend.

[Gola]

Agree we need a clear out and a shake up of how we play. But I love Eddie, and want him to stay for good.

[r0cafella]

32 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

Don't buy that, personally (of course I wouldn't). By that logic you'd be extending the red flag to Wilson as well; it's not just Howe making recruitment decisions now. 

 

It's just PSR. Yeah we can buy now but we can maximise our resources by waiting until the summer to spend.

Of course I can't say for certain but if the money is there lets get a summer signing brought in early. More time to bed in and we need that injection of energy. 

 

I refuse to accept the PSR story given our net spend wasn't crazy, we have spent fuck all prior to the summer in recent windows and we overpaid for what we bought in the summer. 

[Yorkie]

8 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Of course I can't say for certain but if the money is there lets get a summer signing brought in early. More time to bed in and we need that injection of energy. 

 

I refuse to accept the PSR story given our net spend wasn't crazy, we have spent fuck all prior to the summer in recent windows and we overpaid for what we bought in the summer. 

 

It's not that we have nothing to spend but (I assume) they don't believe there's value this month and investing now for what they consider to be marginal gains could impact what we do in the summer.

 

I'm just parroting the manager here really. This is what he says in pressers. That's not to say you can't disbelieve him or think it's the right approach, but personally I'll forever cut them some slack because of the rules.

 

Incidentally we won't be the only fanbase thinking we're desperate for a signing and as far as I can see no one is really making moves. Everyone (bar the obvious few) is in the same boat.

[stozo]

10 hours ago, wong989 said:

My concern here is the constant talk of 'a small pool of players'. We should have had a list of strikers for a few years, Wilson had been breaking down more and more. We tried so hard to sign Guehi for near 70 million, we now have Thiaw for 35. In that time, was there no young player in any (all) of our positions which needed strengthening, in depth at least. This summer there will be numerous players who'd strengthen our squad and likely our 11 who were bought for 5-15 million when we had 65 million we were willing to spend on a good, not great center back, just because he was 'prem proven'. 

The full line is correct though 'There is a small pool of players who will make us better'. It's all about trade-offs. We could absolutely buy young, lesser established (and thus cheaper) players who need developing - but they will likely have less impact and the short-term risk profile is far higher. And in a world where PSR/SCR is a major concern, you can't afford many fuck ups. Everyone lauds the Brighton model - but Brighton have finished below us in each and every season in Howe, the Champions League qualification count is 2-0 and the trophy count is 1-0.

 

I'd also say for all the moans, our transfer business post-takeover has very easily been one of the best in the Premier League. We don't miss very often. 

[stozo]

15 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Of course I can't say for certain but if the money is there lets get a summer signing brought in early. More time to bed in and we need that injection of energy. 

 

I refuse to accept the PSR story given our net spend wasn't crazy, we have spent fuck all prior to the summer in recent windows and we overpaid for what we bought in the summer. 

Let's give the example of a very widely reported January - Joaquin Seys. You might say, bring that forward - but why would Club Brugge do business with us unless we pay a hefty premium? They are sitting 1 point below the CL knockout play-off places with 1 game to go and they are 2 points off USG at the top of the league. So it's absolutely not in their interest to sell their starting left back at anything less than absolute top dollar. And if we pay over the odds to get him in January, that's less money to spend on other targets in the summer. 

 

People also need to realise the financials on PSR AND SCR (both PL and UEFA) are complex to the point where, unless you can guarantee you can keep repeating the Isak trick of a £70m accounting profit regularly, then we do need to be careful. Especially given it's highly uncertain which (if any) European competition we'll be in next season which can mean £0-£30m+ difference in revenue and the fact that we don't know how far we'll get in the CL this year, which again has the potential to be millions in difference in revenue.